Lesson Plan for 2014-01-15: Gi as Offensive Weapon

One of the things that’s really fun about BJJ is using the gi as a weapon in ways that your opponent does not anticipate. No, I’m not talking as a biochemical offensive weapon. Wash your gi after every class. We are going to use our gi like a garrote, and use their gi like a recess bully. Don’t worry, that will all make sense once you look up garrote and finish class.

Our attack will start from side control where we will use the tail of our own gi in a very sneaky way to choke our opponent. If this one is done correctly, they won’t see it coming. This is the kind of choke that when it happens to you, everybody is convinced the guy on top is a sneaky genius. Like many of the sneaky gi chokes that use your own gi, this one requires that your gi has already exited your belt and is loose. If you preemptively pull your gi out of your belt, your opponent is going to know something is up.

The guard pass is a stronger variation of a guard pass that can be done without the gi. This is a relatively non-standard guard pass that works well if you catch the start just right. Fighting for it isn’t going to work. Your opponents gi must be out of the belt on this one, and his wrist needs to be slightly exposed. Speed and smoothness are very important, but once you lock up the initial position, you can go as slow as you want for the rest of the technique, and there’s very little the person can do to stop you.